Flight Safety Information - April 27, 2021 No. 085 In This Issue : Incident: Summit RJ1H at Terrace on Apr 20th 2021, tail scrape on landing : Incident: S7 E170 at Perm on Apr 20th 2021, hard touchdown : Incident: American A321 near Phoenix on Apr 24th 2021, flaps system fault, no data for one side : Landing plane veers off runway at Sedona Airport, hits fuel truck : Breeze Airways boosts Airbus A220 jet order: sources : Spotless Boeing 777 Hits Jet Bridge, Suffers Wing Damage : AUSTRALIA APPOINTS FIRST WOMAN TO HEAD AIR SAFETY REGULATOR : Convicted Felon Sentenced for Flying Airplane Without a Pilot’s License : The 747 Supertanker is ceasing operations : American Airlines To Receive $3.3 Billion In Payroll Support : Blue Origin protests NASA's awarding of moon lander contract to SpaceX Incident: Summit RJ1H at Terrace on Apr 20th 2021, tail scrape on landing A Summit Air Avro RJ-100, registration C-FXRJ performing flight SMM-1542 from Kelowna,BC to Terrace,BC (Canada) with 90 people on board, was on approach to Terrace's runway 33, a 10 knots cross wind had been reported. The crew initiated the flare at about 50 feet AGL, however, the aircraft developed a rapid descent, the crew pitched the aircraft up in response, arrested the descent and continued for landing and roll out. The Canadian TSB reported the crew observed damage to the tail of the aircraft indicative of a tail strike during their post flight walk around. Maintenance inspected the aircraft, found the damage limited to scrapes and missing paint and returned the aircraft to service. The aircraft departed for the next flight about 2 hours after landing. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e67ff2b&opt=0 Incident: S7 E170 at Perm on Apr 20th 2021, hard touchdown A S7 Sibir Airlines Embraer ERJ-170, registration VQ-BBO performing flight S7-5039 from Novosibirsk to Perm (Russia), landed on Perm's runway 21 but touched down hard. The aircraft rolled out without further incident and taxied to the apron. The aircraft also performed the return flight S7-5040 on schedule and landed in Novosibirsk without further incident about 2.5 hours after departure. Rosaviatsia reported decoding of the QAR data revealed the aircraft touched down in Perm with a vertical acceleration of +2.48G, which exceeded permitted limits. The aircraft was removed from service for checks and repairs. Following the works the aircraft was permitted to return to service. The aircraft remained on the ground in Novosibirsk for about 18.5 hours before returning to service. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e67fa93&opt=0 Incident: American A321 near Phoenix on Apr 24th 2021, flaps system fault, no data for one side An American Airlines Airbus A321-200, registration N975UY performing flight AA-2012 from Las Vegas,NV to Philadelphia,PA (USA), was climbing out of Las Vegas when the crew stopped the climb at FL250 due to a flaps indication and decided to divert to Phoenix,AZ (USA). Descending towards Phoenix the crew explained it was just an indication issue, not a hydraulic fault, the flaps system had lost all data from one side. The aircraft landed safely on Phoenix's runway 26 at about 161 knots over ground, slowed safely, vacated the runway about 2570 meters/8400 feet down the runway and taxied to the apron. A replacement A321-200 registration N585UW reached Philadelphia with a delay of about 2:40 hours. The occurrence aircraft returned to service after about 22.5 hours on the ground. https://avherald.com/h?article=4e67e78f&opt=0 Landing plane veers off runway at Sedona Airport, hits fuel truck On Sunday, around 8:15 a.m., three people walked away from a dramatically errant landing at Sedona Airport that damaged a fuel truck and an airplane parked on the ramp between the terminal and the runway. Besides hitting the front of a fuel truck that was actively refueling a plane, the 4-seat Cessna Skylane’s impact tore one of the plane’s wing off, causing its fuel to spill onto the ramp. The plane came to a rest upside down about 50 yards from the fuel truck. “There’s no fatalities and no fire, thank God,” Airport Manager Ed Rose said after the crash. The Sedona Fire District responded to help secure the scene. Two people in the plane were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries, and one was uninjured. Rose said the plane was coming in for a landing from the southwest. During landing, the plane veered far out of the runway area toward the general aviation ramp where several airport users and workers were going about their business. The plane took out a taxi light as it left the runway and headed toward the ramp. Rose said people in the area “scattered” as the plane approached. The propeller of the crashing plane cut into the wing of a plane on the ground, leaving a row of slashes in the steel, and also struck the tail of the plane, causing it to partially separate. The landing plane then struck the front of a fuel truck head on before it flipped and came to a rest upside down. Rose said the runway was closed for about 90 minutes following the crash. The Cessna was flying from Chandler Municipal Airport and is registered to a man from Rifle, Colorado. A few hours after the crash, the FAA cleared the airport to cleanup the scene. With the debris still strewn across the ramp and fueled soaked up with absorbent material, airport staff and others who were in the impact area at the time of the crash exchanged words and backslaps with the relief that comes after an adrenaline rush. http://www.redrocknews.com/2021/04/26/plane-veers-out-of-runway-area-at-sedona-airport-hits-fuel-truck/ Breeze Airways boosts Airbus A220 jet order: sources By Tim Hepher and David Shepardson (Reuters) - Breeze Airways, a new U.S. carrier founded by airline backer David Neeleman, has expanded its growth plans with an additional order for 20 Airbus A220-300 jets, industry sources said. Bringing the startup's total order for the jet to 80, the deal would make Breeze the second-biggest customer for the Canadian-designed A220 family after Delta Air Airlines, leapfrogging JetBlue which Neeleman also founded. The order matches a purchase of 20 A220-300 from an undisclosed buyer, reported by Airbus in a monthly report last week. Airbus and Breeze both declined comment. Breeze is on course to start flying in the summer, Neeleman told a recent conference. Its arrival injects new competition into a battered airline market just as domestic flying in the United States is recovering as vaccination rates increase. "There is a ton of pent-up demand on the leisure side," he told last week's World Aviation Festival. Breeze is Neeleman's fifth commercial airline and originally went under the launch name Moxy. It aims to focus on underserved U.S. cities starting with older Embraer 190/195 jets, some of which have been inherited from Brazil's Azul, another Neeleman venture which has been hit hard by a second local wave of the COVID-19 virus. The first A220 jet from the existing order will be delivered to Breeze in October and serve longer routes. Although costs for the Embraer jets have fallen sharply, the newer Airbus model is cheaper to operate, Neeleman said. Breeze plans to keep both types in its fleet. Breeze is in talks with Airbus to increase the A220's range with an extra fuel tank, Neeleman told the conference, confirming an Air Current report. The latest deal comes weeks after Boeing barred the A220 from its main U.S. stronghold, Southwest Airlines, by winning an order for 100 Boeing 737 MAX 7. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/u-startup-breeze-airways-boosts-102915443.html Spotless Boeing 777 Hits Jet Bridge, Suffers Wing Damage Amsterdam Schiphol is one of Europe’s largest airports, so in theory, you wouldn’t necessarily expect incidents like the one we’re going to talk about today to ever happen. The brand-new Boeing 777-300ER belonging to KLM has suffered wing damage after hitting a jet bridge that hasn’t been correctly removed after being connected to one of the airport’s boarding gates. The bad news is the damaged aircraft is a three-month-old Boeing 777 that has only recently joined KLM’s fleet, and as you can see in a photo published on Twitter by JACDEC, the incident ended up with the left wing getting right under the jet bridge. The good news, on the other hand, is that only minor damage has actually been recorded, and in theory, there’s a chance the new Boeing was back for duty pretty fast. “KLM Boeing 777-300 (PH-BVV, built 2020) sustained minor damage during pushback at Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport (EHAM), Netherlands. It is understood the adjacent ‘avio bridge’ was not removed properly,” JACDEC tweeted on April 23. “On April 22, a Boeing 777 aircraft hit the bridge during pushback, which was in too low a position due to a malfunction. This caused minor damage to the wing of the aircraft. This damage is now being repaired,” a KLM spokesperson reportedly confirmed. While this particular aircraft is brand-new, the Boeing 777-300ER actually joined KLM’s fleet back in 2004. Since then, the airline has expanded its lineup of Boeing 777 to no less than 27 aircraft, out of which 14 of them are the 300ER model like the one that hit the jet bridge. The 300ER has enough room for no less than 408 passengers and allows for a maximum take-off weight of 351,543 kg / 775,019 lbs. It can travel for a maximum distance of 12,000 km (6,479 nmi), with the cruising speed said to be 920 kph (571 mph or 496 kts). https://www.autoevolution.com/news/spotless-boeing-777-hits-jet-bridge-suffers-wing-damage-160002.html AUSTRALIA APPOINTS FIRST WOMAN TO HEAD AIR SAFETY REGULATOR A changing of the guard at Australia’s aviation safety regulator has seen the national government appoint a departmental deputy secretary as the agency’s first female chief executive. Pip Spence is due to start as chief executive and director of aviation safety in the next few weeks after working as deputy secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications. The appointment to what has often been a controversial role is for up to five years. She will be joined in August by Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, who will head the regulator’s board for a three-year term. Transport Minister Michael McCormack said in a statement that the appointments would bring vast experience to the critical air safety roles. McCormack said Spence offered substantial experience in aviation policy and regulation as well as government administration and public policy. This included a strong record of leading organizational change. “These appointments are a critical part of shaping the makeup of the CASA Board and the culture of the organization more broadly,” McCormack said. “The depth and breadth of experience that Ms Spence and Air Chief Marshal Binskin bring to bear show the Government is serious about ensuring CASA performs its critical role effectively. “Their combined skills and experience will be essential for leading this critical regulator in keeping Australians safe while flying, as well as supporting an efficient, effective and reliable aviation industry – which is economically crucial for communities right across the nation.” Air Chief Marshal Binskin brought outstanding leadership and expertise in both aviation and defense to the board, including significant experience within general aviation, the Minister added. According to a biography on the Women in Economics Network mentoring site, Ms Spence’s career includes a number of senior leadership roles in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She was closely involved in the establishment of the National Broadband Network in the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and was awarded a Public Service Medal for her contribution to the telecommunications regulations reform associated with the implementation of the NBN. She started her government career in the Transport Department, where she worked in a number of aviation-related areas, including as adviser to the then Minister. She has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Tasmania and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the Australian National University. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/australia-appoints-first-woman-head-air-safety-regulator/ The 747 Supertanker is ceasing operations The company is in discussions with prospective buyers for the huge air tanker The investor group that owns the 747 Supertanker, Tanker 944, is shutting down the huge air tanker. In an email sent April 21 to officials in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the federal government, Dan Reese the President of Global Supertanker gave them the news: This week the investors that own the Global SuperTanker just informed me that they have made the difficult decision to cease operations of the company, effective this week…This is extremely disappointing as the aircraft has been configured and tuned with a new digital drop system and other upgrades to make it more safe and efficient. Mr. Reese said in the email they are in discussions with prospective buyers, but it was unknown at that time if the aircraft would continue to be configured as an air tanker capable of carrying more than 17,500 gallons or if it would be used as a freighter. Most of the company’s employees have been furloughed until the fate of the SuperTanker is known. In an April 2020 letter posted on the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s website the Chair of the National Interagency Aviation Committee, Joel Kerley of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, wrote to Global Supertanker Services saying the Committee would not issue a seventh interim approval of the aircraft’s retardant delivery system: The Interagency Air Tanker Subcommittee does not support any further interim approvals without correcting some issues originally identified in the 2009 test of the system that included failure to meet coverage level 3 & 6, retention of retardant in the system after drop, aeration of the retardant causing trail off, and inconsistent flight profiles affecting retardant coverage. Due to the current national situation regarding the Coronavirus (COVID-19), NIAC will issue an eighth interim approval to GSTS. However, NIAC will not support, nor issue a ninth interim until GSTS successfully passes all requirements of the 2013 IABS Criteria. This must be completed prior to December 31, 2020. Last winter Tanker 944 spent several weeks in Moses Lake, Washington getting routine maintenance and a conversion of the retardant delivery system from an analog controller to a digital version, a change that was requested by the National Interagency Aviation Committee. Most large air tankers carry up to 3,000 gallons of retardant. The 747 is capable of carrying far more retardant than any other. When first introduced it was listed at 20,000 gallons. Then the federal government certified it at 19,200 gallons. More recently it was required to carry no more than 17,500 gallons. The second-largest capacity air tanker is the Russian-made Ilyushin IL-76 at 11,574 gallons. The DC-10 until a couple of years ago was allowed to hold 11,600 but federal officials now restrict it to 9,400. The U.S. Forest Service, the U.S. agency that contracts for all of the large and very large air tankers used by the federal government, has been slow to warm up to the concept of tankers that can carry more than 5,000 gallons. The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, CAL FIRE, accepted the concept of the 747 and DC-10 more quickly. We asked the Forest Service for a comment on the demise of the 747. “The USDA Forest Service is aware of this vendors decision,” said Stanton Florea, Fire Communications Specialist for the agency.”The Global Super Tanker is on a Call-When-Needed (CWN) contract for aerial wildland fire suppression.” In the interest of full disclosure, Global Supertanker Services has an ad in the sidebar of Fire Aviation. Opinion of a Lead Plane Pilot I asked a Lead Plane Pilot who has worked with Tanker 944 for his impressions of the aircraft. He is currently active and not authorized to comment publicly: It’s a specialized tool, and as such it has a niche that it fills and in that niche there’s nothing else any better. That is, it puts out a huge amount of retardant in one pass, and that sometimes can be a great thing. It can travel halfway around the world and deliver product. Having said that it is also a specialized tool in that it isn’t very good at doing the little stuff. I asked him about the retardant that sometimes trails off after a drop: That trail off, that’s something they can beat them over the head with, but at the end of the day hardly anybody I know gives a s**t about it. Ok, well, it’s not a perfect tank. First drop on a fire The initial version of the Supertanker installed by Evergreen in a 747-100 made its first ever drop on a fire 12 years ago at the Railbelt complex in Alaska in 2009. When Evergreen went bankrupt Global Supertanker bought the hardware and the rights to the retardant system and installed it in a newer more powerful 747-400. Assisted firefighters in Israel, Mexico, Chile, and Bolivia In 2016 the 747 assisted firefighters in Israel, and in 2017 it spent several weeks working on fires in Chile. In one day, February 1, 2017 working out of Santiago, it conducted a total of 11 drops on 7 sorties. Six of the sorties were near Navidad and Matanzas 115 miles (185 km) southwest of the Santiago airport where many structures were threatened. The seventh was near Concepcion, 404 miles (650 km) south of Santiago. In total, 138,400 gallons (508,759 l.) were delivered to assist the firefighters on the ground. The air tanker also had an assignment in Mexico in 2011, and in 2019 spent about seven weeks on a firefighting contract in Bolivia. https://fireaviation.com/2021/04/23/the-747-supertanker-is-ceasing-operations/ American Airlines To Receive $3.3 Billion In Payroll Support American Airlines and its wholly-owned regional subsidiaries will receive over $3.3 billion in payroll support under the third round of industry support from the US government. The money will pay for employee wages and allow the airline to avoid involuntary furloughs and layoffs through at least September 30th. The first disbursement has been paid out to the airline. American Airlines agrees to the third round of government support On Monday, April 26th, American Airlines announced an agreement with the United States Department of Treasury to a third round of financial aid under the Payroll Support Program (PSP). The third extension of the PSP since the start of the crisis, this round was funded under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. American Airlines, together with its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Envoy Air, Piedmont Airlines, and PSA Airlines, will receive a total of $3,310.9 million ($3.3 billion). The first installment, equal to $1,655.4 million (~$1.7 billion), was paid out to the airline on April 23rd. Under the terms of the agreement, American and its wholly-owned subsidiaries must use the money to pay employee wages, salaries, and benefits. The airline cannot conduct any involuntary furloughs and reductions in pay rates and benefits through at least September 30th, 2021. There are also restrictions on share repurchases and dividend payouts until September 30th, 2022, and restrictions on certain executive compensation through April 1st, 2023. The other two rounds The most important round of government support was arguably the first one. As the nature of the crisis became clear, Washington D.C. was looking at ways to support the country’s industries. US airlines and their respective lobbying organizations pushed politicians hard for industry support. Under the first round, American Airlines received around $5.8 billion in payroll support from the Treasury. The first round of support gave the Department of Transportation (DOT) the power to mandate minimum airline frequencies and city services. US carriers of all sizes sought exemptions, but the DOT was strict about which ones it allowed. American Airlines did receive service exemptions, though only to a handful of destinations. The second round of support came in a relief bill passed in December. This left a few months of a gap where the airline industry did not receive support. However, industry lobbying paid off when the second round of support was officially passed just a few days before 2020 ended. The third installment under the second round of support was only paid out on April 23rd, in the sum of $463 million. In the aggregate, round two of the PSP benefited the carrier to the tune of $3.5 billion, which was higher than initially expected. Support is crucial for airlines American Airlines has a large staff that it uses to run a heavy domestic and long-haul international schedule. The problem for the airline for much of 2020 was that it did not need its full staffing levels. Government support allowed airline employees to keep their jobs through a difficult 2020 and early 2021. American Airlines and its executives viewed industry support as necessary to keep infrastructure in place to support the industry and country’s recovery. The carrier’s CEO, Doug Parker, was one of the leading airline executives in the US who pushed for industry support. That support has been crucial for airlines that spent much of 2020 simply trying to survive. Payroll support helped Southwest Airlines turn a profit in the first quarter of 2021. American Airlines also benefited, as it narrowed its net loss for the first quarter to $1.25 billion. With salaries for employees paid, American Airlines can fly its jets at lower financial risk, which is one reason why the airline has been increasing capacity and flying some of its routes with nearly empty loads, but with a focus on cargo. The airline is focused on the future with a “Green Flag Plan” that will see the airline out of the crisis, and government support will have been a crucial part of the carrier’s ability to ramp up capacity. https://simpleflying.com/american-psp-three/ Blue Origin protests NASA's awarding of moon lander contract to SpaceX (Reuters) - Blue Origin, the space rocket company backed by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is formally challenging the $2.9 billion moon lander contract awarded by NASA to rival Elon Musk's SpaceX. Blue Origin said on Monday it had filed a protest with the federal Government Accountability Office, accusing NASA of moving the goalposts for contract bidders at the last minute. NASA early this month awarded SpaceX the contract to build a spaceship to deliver astronauts to the moon as early as 2024, choosing Musk's company over Blue Origin and defense contractor Dynetics Inc. The sought-after project aims to put humans back on the moon for the first time since 1972. "NASA has executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute", Blue Origin said in an emailed statement. "Their decision eliminates opportunities for competition, significantly narrows the supply base, and not only delays, but also endangers America's return to the moon. Because of that, we've filed a protest with the GAO." Musk's SpaceX bid alone while Amazon.com founder Bezos's Blue Origin partnered with Lockheed Martin Corp, Northrop Grumman Corp and Draper. The filing of the 50-page protest by Blue Origin was reported earlier by the New York Times. https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/blue-origin-protests-nasas-awarding-234249932.html Curt Lewis